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The Old City of Jerusalem in December 2016. (Photo: AFP)
US President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly pledged to move his country's embassy to Jerusalem, most recently in response to the UN Security Council resolution that condemned Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
But since the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, several US presidents have failed to keep their promises to move the embassy despite pledges on the campaign trail to do so. So the question is whether Trump will actually come through on his promise.
What makes Trump's threat serious this time around is his extreme support for Israel. He is madly in love with it and especially with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
On Tuesday, his pledge appeared to take tangible steps forward after three Republican senators introduced legislation recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moving the embassy there from Tel Aviv.
Yet it must be remembered that in 1995, the US Congress passed a similar act which recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital and stated that the US embassy should move no later than 1999. Successive presidents have postponed its implementation every six months.
Still, what makes Trump's threat serious this time around is his extreme support for Israel. He is madly in love with it and especially with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
And what makes the pledge dangerous is that it comes at a time when divisions between Palestinians are only increasing and when, consequently, Palestinian leadership is weakening.
As a piece in Foreign Affairs suggested last month, recalling Ariel Sharon's infamous visit to Jerusalem in 2000 that set off an intifada that raged for four years, a US embassy move could easily trigger a new uprising. Yet repeatedly, members of Trump's campaign and his aides have promised the move.
Recently, Israel's Channel 2 news reported that staffers from the Republican Party involved in the Trump campaign, already on the hunt for a piece of land for the new embassy, had settled upon the site of the Diplomat Hotel.
It is as if we are being told that a building already exists and all that is needed is the decision to move the embassy to it.
It won't be easy to move the embassy to Jerusalem, a measure which would not only contravene international law and the legal status of Jerusalem, but would also contradict US policy that has been in place for many years.
Some Israeli circles have warned that the country could become an extremist nationalist religious state in the absence of a White House master to deter it
But it's not as if Palestinian or Arab officials have done much to make the move more difficult: their reactions have been entirely tame and inappropriate considering the seriousness of the issue.
Not one political, media or diplomatic campaign has been organised to explain the unprecedented blowback that would come from Palestinian, Arab, Islamic and international communities if the measure was actually adopted.
At first, senior Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat ignored the issue. Later, he ruled out the likelihood that Trump will actually follow through on his pledge, seeming utterly oblivious to the hostility of Trump and his team toward Palestinians and Arabs and, even more so, towards Muslims.
Finally, he came out and said that Palestinians take the likelihood of the embassy move seriously and will have an appropriate response, potentially withdrawing Palestinian recognition of the state of Israel.
The statements Trump made and the opinions he expressed during his campaign and after his victory are extremely disturbing. These include remarks from a top aide who said that, for Trump, settlements are not an obstacle to peace.
Trump also sought to dissuade both the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi from tabling the draft resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank at the UN Security Council and the Obama administration from allowing the resolution to pass by not vetoing it.
"As to the UN, things will be different after January 20," Trump tweeted, suggesting that he will try to ignore the resolution, something that won't be easy given that it has gained wide support from the international community.
The decision by a significant number of Western countries to vote in favour of the resolution, and the support Germany showed for it despite not being a Security Council member, the abstention of the US - all of this was not about settling a score between Obama and Netanyahu, but about a global concern for the repercussions that Trump's victory could have for the US and the world.
The UN Security Council resolution was meant to be an impediment to prevent the situation in the Middle East from further deterioration.
When the Obama administration went as far as supporting a UN Security Council resolution that defined the basis, objectives and frame of reference for the peace settlement, when it abstained from the vote, it meant to draw a line that neither Trump, nor Netanyahu can cross after it is gone.
Some Israeli circles have warned that the country could become an extremist nationalist religious state in the absence of a White House master to deter it as has been the case in the past. Indeed, Trump would only encourage this.
Other circles have welcomed his election victory and considered it to be an opportunity to get rid, once and for all, of the two-state solution, and to annex existing settlements or even the whole of Area C, to expand settlement building and to remove all restrictions imposed on construction.
However, even those who welcomed his pledge, including the Minister of Jerusalem Affairs, did not expect him to move the embassy because, they assumed, the State Department and legal experts would warn him against the repercussions of doing so.
So instead, some have demanded that the Israeli government should take the initiative of moving its own offices and ministries to Jerusalem so Trump and the rest of the world could follow suit.
We live in a world that comprehends no language other than that of interests and power. Whoever lacks mastery of one or both of these languages will not be heard by anyone.
If Palestinians, Arabs and free people of the world wish to prevent the US embassy from being moved to Jerusalem, then they have to move promptly and be ready before it is too late. They should explain the seriousness of the fallout this step could have on America's relations, interests and influence in the region.
These repercussions could include the eruption of an intifada that will be much bigger than its predecessors, the renunciation of the peace process that began with the signing of the Oslo Accords; the pursuit of a new multi-dimensional strategy whose cornerstone will be steadfastness and resistance in the land of Palestine; and the use of all cards and legitimate weapons commensurate with international law, chief among them the BDS campaign, to pursue Israel for its occupation, crimes and racism at all levels and in all local, Arab, regional and international forums.
It will not be easy to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem because such a measure will have huge repercussions. However, with Trump in power, it would no longer be impossible, especially when Israel is ruled by the worst and most extreme government in its history.
We stand on the threshold of a new era that may witness a shift in American policy, which is already bad, to the worst it has been on the Palestinian issue. We may be witnessing the last nail in the coffin of the two-state solution and the peace process. Trump's pledge should not be underestimated.
Trump and Musk are on an unconstitutional rampage, aiming for virtually every corner of the federal government. These two right-wing billionaires are targeting nurses, scientists, teachers, daycare providers, judges, veterans, air traffic controllers, and nuclear safety inspectors. No one is safe. The food stamps program, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are next. It’s an unprecedented disaster and a five-alarm fire, but there will be a reckoning. The people did not vote for this. The American people do not want this dystopian hellscape that hides behind claims of “efficiency.” Still, in reality, it is all a giveaway to corporate interests and the libertarian dreams of far-right oligarchs like Musk. Common Dreams is playing a vital role by reporting day and night on this orgy of corruption and greed, as well as what everyday people can do to organize and fight back. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. |
US President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly pledged to move his country's embassy to Jerusalem, most recently in response to the UN Security Council resolution that condemned Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
But since the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, several US presidents have failed to keep their promises to move the embassy despite pledges on the campaign trail to do so. So the question is whether Trump will actually come through on his promise.
What makes Trump's threat serious this time around is his extreme support for Israel. He is madly in love with it and especially with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
On Tuesday, his pledge appeared to take tangible steps forward after three Republican senators introduced legislation recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moving the embassy there from Tel Aviv.
Yet it must be remembered that in 1995, the US Congress passed a similar act which recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital and stated that the US embassy should move no later than 1999. Successive presidents have postponed its implementation every six months.
Still, what makes Trump's threat serious this time around is his extreme support for Israel. He is madly in love with it and especially with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
And what makes the pledge dangerous is that it comes at a time when divisions between Palestinians are only increasing and when, consequently, Palestinian leadership is weakening.
As a piece in Foreign Affairs suggested last month, recalling Ariel Sharon's infamous visit to Jerusalem in 2000 that set off an intifada that raged for four years, a US embassy move could easily trigger a new uprising. Yet repeatedly, members of Trump's campaign and his aides have promised the move.
Recently, Israel's Channel 2 news reported that staffers from the Republican Party involved in the Trump campaign, already on the hunt for a piece of land for the new embassy, had settled upon the site of the Diplomat Hotel.
It is as if we are being told that a building already exists and all that is needed is the decision to move the embassy to it.
It won't be easy to move the embassy to Jerusalem, a measure which would not only contravene international law and the legal status of Jerusalem, but would also contradict US policy that has been in place for many years.
Some Israeli circles have warned that the country could become an extremist nationalist religious state in the absence of a White House master to deter it
But it's not as if Palestinian or Arab officials have done much to make the move more difficult: their reactions have been entirely tame and inappropriate considering the seriousness of the issue.
Not one political, media or diplomatic campaign has been organised to explain the unprecedented blowback that would come from Palestinian, Arab, Islamic and international communities if the measure was actually adopted.
At first, senior Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat ignored the issue. Later, he ruled out the likelihood that Trump will actually follow through on his pledge, seeming utterly oblivious to the hostility of Trump and his team toward Palestinians and Arabs and, even more so, towards Muslims.
Finally, he came out and said that Palestinians take the likelihood of the embassy move seriously and will have an appropriate response, potentially withdrawing Palestinian recognition of the state of Israel.
The statements Trump made and the opinions he expressed during his campaign and after his victory are extremely disturbing. These include remarks from a top aide who said that, for Trump, settlements are not an obstacle to peace.
Trump also sought to dissuade both the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi from tabling the draft resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank at the UN Security Council and the Obama administration from allowing the resolution to pass by not vetoing it.
"As to the UN, things will be different after January 20," Trump tweeted, suggesting that he will try to ignore the resolution, something that won't be easy given that it has gained wide support from the international community.
The decision by a significant number of Western countries to vote in favour of the resolution, and the support Germany showed for it despite not being a Security Council member, the abstention of the US - all of this was not about settling a score between Obama and Netanyahu, but about a global concern for the repercussions that Trump's victory could have for the US and the world.
The UN Security Council resolution was meant to be an impediment to prevent the situation in the Middle East from further deterioration.
When the Obama administration went as far as supporting a UN Security Council resolution that defined the basis, objectives and frame of reference for the peace settlement, when it abstained from the vote, it meant to draw a line that neither Trump, nor Netanyahu can cross after it is gone.
Some Israeli circles have warned that the country could become an extremist nationalist religious state in the absence of a White House master to deter it as has been the case in the past. Indeed, Trump would only encourage this.
Other circles have welcomed his election victory and considered it to be an opportunity to get rid, once and for all, of the two-state solution, and to annex existing settlements or even the whole of Area C, to expand settlement building and to remove all restrictions imposed on construction.
However, even those who welcomed his pledge, including the Minister of Jerusalem Affairs, did not expect him to move the embassy because, they assumed, the State Department and legal experts would warn him against the repercussions of doing so.
So instead, some have demanded that the Israeli government should take the initiative of moving its own offices and ministries to Jerusalem so Trump and the rest of the world could follow suit.
We live in a world that comprehends no language other than that of interests and power. Whoever lacks mastery of one or both of these languages will not be heard by anyone.
If Palestinians, Arabs and free people of the world wish to prevent the US embassy from being moved to Jerusalem, then they have to move promptly and be ready before it is too late. They should explain the seriousness of the fallout this step could have on America's relations, interests and influence in the region.
These repercussions could include the eruption of an intifada that will be much bigger than its predecessors, the renunciation of the peace process that began with the signing of the Oslo Accords; the pursuit of a new multi-dimensional strategy whose cornerstone will be steadfastness and resistance in the land of Palestine; and the use of all cards and legitimate weapons commensurate with international law, chief among them the BDS campaign, to pursue Israel for its occupation, crimes and racism at all levels and in all local, Arab, regional and international forums.
It will not be easy to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem because such a measure will have huge repercussions. However, with Trump in power, it would no longer be impossible, especially when Israel is ruled by the worst and most extreme government in its history.
We stand on the threshold of a new era that may witness a shift in American policy, which is already bad, to the worst it has been on the Palestinian issue. We may be witnessing the last nail in the coffin of the two-state solution and the peace process. Trump's pledge should not be underestimated.
US President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly pledged to move his country's embassy to Jerusalem, most recently in response to the UN Security Council resolution that condemned Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
But since the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, several US presidents have failed to keep their promises to move the embassy despite pledges on the campaign trail to do so. So the question is whether Trump will actually come through on his promise.
What makes Trump's threat serious this time around is his extreme support for Israel. He is madly in love with it and especially with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
On Tuesday, his pledge appeared to take tangible steps forward after three Republican senators introduced legislation recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moving the embassy there from Tel Aviv.
Yet it must be remembered that in 1995, the US Congress passed a similar act which recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital and stated that the US embassy should move no later than 1999. Successive presidents have postponed its implementation every six months.
Still, what makes Trump's threat serious this time around is his extreme support for Israel. He is madly in love with it and especially with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
And what makes the pledge dangerous is that it comes at a time when divisions between Palestinians are only increasing and when, consequently, Palestinian leadership is weakening.
As a piece in Foreign Affairs suggested last month, recalling Ariel Sharon's infamous visit to Jerusalem in 2000 that set off an intifada that raged for four years, a US embassy move could easily trigger a new uprising. Yet repeatedly, members of Trump's campaign and his aides have promised the move.
Recently, Israel's Channel 2 news reported that staffers from the Republican Party involved in the Trump campaign, already on the hunt for a piece of land for the new embassy, had settled upon the site of the Diplomat Hotel.
It is as if we are being told that a building already exists and all that is needed is the decision to move the embassy to it.
It won't be easy to move the embassy to Jerusalem, a measure which would not only contravene international law and the legal status of Jerusalem, but would also contradict US policy that has been in place for many years.
Some Israeli circles have warned that the country could become an extremist nationalist religious state in the absence of a White House master to deter it
But it's not as if Palestinian or Arab officials have done much to make the move more difficult: their reactions have been entirely tame and inappropriate considering the seriousness of the issue.
Not one political, media or diplomatic campaign has been organised to explain the unprecedented blowback that would come from Palestinian, Arab, Islamic and international communities if the measure was actually adopted.
At first, senior Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat ignored the issue. Later, he ruled out the likelihood that Trump will actually follow through on his pledge, seeming utterly oblivious to the hostility of Trump and his team toward Palestinians and Arabs and, even more so, towards Muslims.
Finally, he came out and said that Palestinians take the likelihood of the embassy move seriously and will have an appropriate response, potentially withdrawing Palestinian recognition of the state of Israel.
The statements Trump made and the opinions he expressed during his campaign and after his victory are extremely disturbing. These include remarks from a top aide who said that, for Trump, settlements are not an obstacle to peace.
Trump also sought to dissuade both the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi from tabling the draft resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank at the UN Security Council and the Obama administration from allowing the resolution to pass by not vetoing it.
"As to the UN, things will be different after January 20," Trump tweeted, suggesting that he will try to ignore the resolution, something that won't be easy given that it has gained wide support from the international community.
The decision by a significant number of Western countries to vote in favour of the resolution, and the support Germany showed for it despite not being a Security Council member, the abstention of the US - all of this was not about settling a score between Obama and Netanyahu, but about a global concern for the repercussions that Trump's victory could have for the US and the world.
The UN Security Council resolution was meant to be an impediment to prevent the situation in the Middle East from further deterioration.
When the Obama administration went as far as supporting a UN Security Council resolution that defined the basis, objectives and frame of reference for the peace settlement, when it abstained from the vote, it meant to draw a line that neither Trump, nor Netanyahu can cross after it is gone.
Some Israeli circles have warned that the country could become an extremist nationalist religious state in the absence of a White House master to deter it as has been the case in the past. Indeed, Trump would only encourage this.
Other circles have welcomed his election victory and considered it to be an opportunity to get rid, once and for all, of the two-state solution, and to annex existing settlements or even the whole of Area C, to expand settlement building and to remove all restrictions imposed on construction.
However, even those who welcomed his pledge, including the Minister of Jerusalem Affairs, did not expect him to move the embassy because, they assumed, the State Department and legal experts would warn him against the repercussions of doing so.
So instead, some have demanded that the Israeli government should take the initiative of moving its own offices and ministries to Jerusalem so Trump and the rest of the world could follow suit.
We live in a world that comprehends no language other than that of interests and power. Whoever lacks mastery of one or both of these languages will not be heard by anyone.
If Palestinians, Arabs and free people of the world wish to prevent the US embassy from being moved to Jerusalem, then they have to move promptly and be ready before it is too late. They should explain the seriousness of the fallout this step could have on America's relations, interests and influence in the region.
These repercussions could include the eruption of an intifada that will be much bigger than its predecessors, the renunciation of the peace process that began with the signing of the Oslo Accords; the pursuit of a new multi-dimensional strategy whose cornerstone will be steadfastness and resistance in the land of Palestine; and the use of all cards and legitimate weapons commensurate with international law, chief among them the BDS campaign, to pursue Israel for its occupation, crimes and racism at all levels and in all local, Arab, regional and international forums.
It will not be easy to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem because such a measure will have huge repercussions. However, with Trump in power, it would no longer be impossible, especially when Israel is ruled by the worst and most extreme government in its history.
We stand on the threshold of a new era that may witness a shift in American policy, which is already bad, to the worst it has been on the Palestinian issue. We may be witnessing the last nail in the coffin of the two-state solution and the peace process. Trump's pledge should not be underestimated.
"This was an illegal act," said U.S. District Court Judge Paula Xinis.
A federal court judge on Sunday declared the Trump administration's refusal to return a man they sent to an El Salvadoran prison in "error" as "totally lawless" behavior and ordered the Department of Homeland Security to repatriate the man, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, within 24 hours.
In a 22-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis doubled down on an order issued Friday, which Department of Justice lawyers representing the administration said was an affront to his executive authority.
"This was an illegal act," Xinis said of DHS Secretary Krisi Noem's attack on Abrego Garcia's rights, including his deportation and imprisonment.
"Defendants seized Abrego Garcia without any lawful authority; held him in three separate domestic detention centers without legal basis; failed to present him to any immigration judge or officer; and forcibly transported him to El Salvador in direct contravention of [immigration law]," the decision states.
Once imprisoned in El Salvador, the order continues, "U.S. officials secured his detention in a facility that, by design, deprives its detainees of adequate food, water, and shelter, fosters routine violence; and places him with his persecutors."
Trump's DOJ appealed Friday's order to 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Virginia, but that court has not yet ruled on the request to stay the order from Xinis, which says Abrego Garcia should be returned to the United States no later than Monday.
"You'd be a fool to think Trump won't go after others he dislikes," warned Sen. Ron Wyden, "including American citizens."
Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon slammed the Trump administration over the weekend in response to fresh reporting that the Department of Homeland Security has intensified its push for access to confidential data held by the Internal Revenue Service—part of a sweeping effort to target immigrant workers who pay into the U.S. tax system yet get little or nothing in return.
Wyden denounced the effort, which had the fingerprints of the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, all over it.
"What Trump and Musk's henchmen are doing by weaponizing taxpayer data is illegal, this abuse of the immigrant community is a moral atrocity, and you'd be a fool to think Trump won't go after others he dislikes, including American citizens," said Wyden, ranking member of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, on Saturday.
Last week, the White House admitted one of the men it has sent to a prison in El Salvador was detained and deported in schackles in "error." Despite the admitted mistake, and facing a lawsuit for his immediate return, the Trump administration says a federal court has no authority over the president to make such an order.
"Even though the Trump administration claims it's focused on undocumented immigrants, it's obvious that they do not care when they make mistakes and ruin the lives of legal residents and American citizens in the process," Wyden continued. "A repressive scheme on the scale of what they're talking about at the IRS would lead to hundreds if not thousands of those horrific mistakes, and the people who are disappeared as a result may never be returned to their families."
According to the Washington Post reporting on Saturday:
Federal immigration officials are seeking to locate up to 7 million people suspected of being in the United States unlawfully by accessing confidential tax data at the Internal Revenue Service, according to six people familiar with the request, a dramatic escalation in how the Trump administration aims to use the tax system to detain and deport immigrants.
Officials from the Department of Homeland Security had previously sought the IRS’s help in finding 700,000 people who are subject to final removal orders, and they had asked the IRS to use closely guarded taxpayer data systems to provide names and addresses.
As the Post notes, it would be highly unusual, and quite possibly unlawful, for the IRS to share such confidential data. "Normally," the newspaper reports, "personal tax information—even an individual's name and address—is considered confidential and closely guarded within the IRS."
Wyden warned that those who violate the law by disclosing personal tax data face the risk of civil sanction or even prosecution.
"While Trump's sycophants and the DOGE boys may be a lost cause," Wyden said, "IRS personnel need to think long and hard about whether they want to be a part of an effort to round up innocent people and send them to be locked away in foreign torture prisons."
"I'm sure Trump has promised pardons to the people who will commit crimes in the process of abusing legally-protected taxpayer data, but violations of taxpayer privacy laws carry hefty civil penalties too, and Trump cannot pardon anybody out from under those," he said. "I'm going to demand answers from the acting IRS commissioner immediately about this outrageous abuse of the agency.”
"I think that the Democratic Party has to make a fundamental decision," says the independent Senator from Vermont, "and I'm not sure that they will make the right decision."
"I think when we talk about America is a democracy, I think we should rephrase it, call it a 'pseudo-democracy.'"
That's what Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Sunday morning in response to questions from CBS News about the state of the nation, with President Donald Trump gutting the federal government from head to toe, challenging constitutional norms, allowing his cabinet of billionaires to run key agencies they philosophically want to destroy, and empowering Elon Musk—the world's richest person—to run roughshod over public education, undermine healthcare programs like Medicare and Medicaid, and attack Social Security.
Taking a weekend away from his ongoing "Fight Oligarchy" tour, which has drawn record crowds in both right-leaning and left-leaning regions of the country over recent weeks, Sanders said the problem is deeply entrenched now in the nation's political system—and both major parties have a lot to answer for.
"One of the other concerns when I talk about oligarchy," Sanders explained to journalist Robert Acosta, "it's not just massive income and wealth inequality. It's not just the power of the billionaire class. These guys, led by Musk—and as a result of this disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision—have now allowed billionaires essentially to own our political process. So, I think when we talk about America is a democracy, I think we should rephrase it, call it a 'pseudo-democracy.' And it's not just Musk and the Republicans; it's billionaires in the Democratic Party as well."
Sanders said that while he's been out on the road in various places, what he perceives—from Americans of all stripes—is a shared sense of dread and frustration.
"I think I'm seeing fear, and I'm seeing anger," he said. "Sixty percent of our people are living paycheck-to-paycheck. Media doesn't talk about it. We don't talk about it enough here in Congress."
In a speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate on Friday night, just before the Republican-controlled chamber was able to pass a sweeping spending resolution that will lay waste to vital programs like Medicaid and food assistance to needy families so that billionaires and the ultra-rich can enjoy even more tax giveaways, Sanders said, "What we have is a budget proposal in front of us that makes bad situations much worse and does virtually nothing to protect the needs of working families."
LIVE: I'm on the floor now talking about Trump's totally absurd budget.
They got it exactly backwards. No tax cuts for billionaires by cutting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid for Americans. https://t.co/ULB2KosOSJ
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) April 4, 2025
What the GOP spending plan does do, he added, "is reward wealthy campaign contributors by providing over $1 trillion in tax breaks for the top one percent."
"I wish my Republican friends the best of luck when they go home—if they dare to hold town hall meetings—and explain to their constituents why they think, at a time of massive income and wealth inequality, it's a great idea to give tax breaks to billionaires and cut Medicaid, education, and other programs that working class families desperately need."
On Saturday, millions of people took to the street in coordinated protests against the Trump administration's attack on government, the economy, and democracy itself.
Voiced at many of the rallies was also a frustration with the failure of the Democrats to stand up to Trump and offer an alternative vision for what the nation can be. In his CBS News interview, Sanders said the key question Democrats need to be asking is the one too many people in Washington, D.C. tend to avoid.
"Why are [the Democrats] held in so low esteem?" That's the question that needs asking, he said.
"Why has the working class in this country largely turned away from them? And what do you have to do to recapture that working class? Do you think working people are voting for Trump because he wants to give massive tax breaks to billionaires and cut Social Security and Medicare? I don't think so. It's because people say, 'I am hurting. Democratic Party has talked a good game for years. They haven't done anything.' So, I think that the Democratic Party has to make a fundamental decision, and I'm not sure that they will make the right decision, which side are they on? [Will] they continue to hustle large campaign contributions from very, very wealthy people, or do they stand with the working class?"
The next leg of Sanders' "Fight Oligarchy' tour will kick off next Saturday, with stops in California, Utah, and Idaho over four days.
"The American people, whether they are Democrats, Republicans or Independents, do not want billionaires to control our government or buy our elections," said Sanders. "That is why I will be visiting Republican-held districts all over the Western United States. When we are organized and fight back, we can defeat oligarchy."